This video is so long, I was losing my voice. 😅 Thank you to everyone for watching. :3 USE THE TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Intro 0:56 - Journey to the West Context: The Fortune Teller & The Dragon King 10:05 - More Pre-Journey to the West Context 11:06 - Kingdom of Sahali Context 22:10 - The Headless Monk 23:30 - The Royal Family of Flowing Sands 25:24 - The Loong Scales & The Secret of the Dragon Sons 30:54 - Tiger Saga 38:55 - What’s the point of the Tigers? 40:19 - Stone Saga 48:49 - What’s the point of the Stones? 49:37 - Hidden Area 57:51 - The Yellow Wind Sage 1:01:29 - Putting it All Together 1:08:06 - Ending Animation & Final Thoughts
After watching a lot of Journey to the west and Black myth explanation videos, you're the only person who has masterfully explained the lore of this massive world. Thank you so much for your videos. Can't wait for the rest of the chapters.
I feel privileged to listen to your in-depth explanation of the lore, it's so interesting!. It is like someone is letting me in on a big secret. Great work! Cant wait for the next parts!☺️
@@EmpressXV Thank you too for the great work you do! Most of us do not know as much as you do about the story and the cultural importance, please share as much as you can😊!
Wow, you summarised the lore well. Finally, someone really cares about why this game called "Black Myth". It is the tale that cannot be revealed to people, which are the karma caused by the cruelty and ruthlessness of Gods.
I've found Taijiquan, the I Ching, & the Tao Te Ching to be of utmost use in my Life, but growing up in the MidWest I knew I never understood the various Cultural implications of things that someone more versed in Chinese Culture would notice. I'm absolutely loving your detailed Descriptions of all of these things for us Westerners! I can't wait to see the rest of the Chapters!
@@EmpressXV Double Major in both Psychology & Philosophy/Comparative World Religions. I did an I Ching Reading for my Eastern Religions class (I've always used the Coin Method) & it was so specifically accurate I started to dive further. I've also loved the 3 Soft Forms: having done a little bit of Baguaquan w/ mostly just holding San Ti for a year re: Xing Yi, & done Taijiquan since I took a Physical Education class on it whilst in my Freshmen year of College, decades ago LOL Sadly, both my Sifu & I only know so much from Reading & Watching YT Videos - certainly more now than we did back in the 80's & 90's, being Westerners in the USA, but still not a lot. I've been excited for the upcoming EXPLOSION of Chinese Games that I correctly guessed would really kick off w/ Black Myth: Wukong, then Phantom Blade Zero, &c. I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to know all the various Cultural Details from the "single user per artifact" rule, to why Yin Tiger & not Yang Tiger, &c. (I always thought that Dragon was Water/Yin & Tiger was Fire/Yang), &c.
Loving the analysis series so far. I admittedly didn't have many hopes for this story, but it's proving interestingly deep and rebellious in a suitably subtle way. Roll on Part 3!
Yay! I like how you describe it as subtle -- that's a great way to put it. :3 While I do wish certain things were more clear (I wanna know exactly what the devs intended LOL), it does let us discover more for ourselves.
Oh my gosh, thank you so much for the kind comment and generosity! I am definitely planning to cover all the other chapters. #3 is the longest one, so it's taking me a while >_
Yes! This is the best explanation! It must have taken so much work to research it all and edit the video. Much appreciated! Looking forward to more. Also I watched this as soon as I finished Chapter2, just like I watched chapter 1 as soon as I finished playing chapter 1. I do feel like I got some spoilers for later chapters…
You are too sweet, thank you! 🥹There are so many amazing creators covering BMWK, so I’m very grateful for the compliment, especially as a small creator ♥️. Chapter 3 coming soon(tm)!
Thankyou for your work here. I appreciate that you put english syllables above the chinese characters, makes me that little bit more pulled towards learning the language someday. Good vid.
Chapter 2 is definitely a complicated one to analyze. Probably the least straightforward one to figure out. The choice of ending is unique compared to the other chapters. You managed to still break it down that is easy to follow while offering your own insight. Appreciate the vid, and hope your voice is better.
Great video! I loved video like this that delve into the lore and story so deeply. Cant wait for your analysis on chapter 4 because the story gets dark at that point but I am gonna have fun seeing you dissect chapter 3. It will be fun ride again after chapter 3 came along.
Yay, so glad you enjoyed! ☺️ And YES - I am super excited to cover chapter 4 because I LOVE love stories and as you said, it gets quite dark. 👀 Maybe I should attempt to dress up as Fourth Sister for that one 🕸️
That whole video made perfect sense. I also found really weird that a Boddhisatva, a being that is supposed to be enlightened, was so vindicative when he's supposed to be removed from such feelings. In a way, it reminds me of the hypocrisy present inside the Christian religion, which preaches forgiveness and non-violence, only to end up having Saints and Angels do incredibly violent deeds against non-believers.
I cannot wait till u cover chapter 4 probs my favourite one cause there's deffo a story with the 4th sister looking forward to your analysis of it 😎 and as always an amazing detailed video.
Wanted to say I love these videos. I bought Wukong because of the story. I'm not all that great at these types of games (just finished chapter 2!), but the lore keeps me going. Your videos enhance an already rich story for me. Thanks for doing these deep dives, and I look forward to the next chapter!
Ahh thank youuu!! So glad to hear. 🥹 I’m also not the best at these types of games, so we’re both keeping on cuz of the lore haha.🤭 What do you think about the story so far though??
Small note for 6:20. Wejung didn't suddenly fell asleep during the chess game. The king was trying to stall for time, so things got slow and boring, leading him to fall asleep.
The passage in the original novel is: "此棋正下到午時三刻，一盤殘局未終，魏徵忽然俯伏在案邊，鼾 鼾盹睡." This translates to, "They played until 12:45, before the match was over, Weizheng /suddenly/ leaned forward and fell asleep snoring." It was a sudden nap at 12:45, which is when he was fated to execute the Dragon King.
Didn't realize how huge this game is like 130gb on Steam. I'll read Journey and play "vicariously" until I can up the storage😂 Ps your voice reminds memof the child-like Empress from Never Ending Story. Such nostalgia ❤
Considering that a fortune teller could predict even the actions of the Jade Emperor and Buddha, you have to wonder whether the deities in this setting are really the highest powers that be who deserve all the blame for everything.
Great video, it's explain a lot of blurry areas for me. But I have a question, what exactly define a yagoui ? Yellow Brow for exemple, he was a monk so I assune he was a man, how exactly he is (has become) a yagoui ?
Glad it was helpful! :3 "Yaoguai" is a very general blanket term that the game uses to encompass anything that's achieved some level of cultivation / powers that the celestial bureaucracy has deemed as "bad." In Chinese, this can be broken down to even more categories including: yao (usually animals or plants); guai (originally non-living things like rocks); yaojing (typically female, more beautiful and human in appearance); etc. Then there's also "shen xian" as the blanket term for immortals who are "good," but it can be broken down to "shen" (god) and "xian" (fairies and other lesser immortals). In actuality, being a yaoguai doesn't automatically mean they're bad and being a shenxian doesn't automatically mean they're good. You can also have yaoguai who become shenxian (like Sun Wukong in the original novel). This is a big theme that Black Myth explores because heaven is calling the shots on these categories, and in chapter 2 we see Lingji spouting nonsense about how everything is born into their root station. Which again, is not actually true and not how buddhism is supposed to work. In the case of Yellowbrow, he was originally the attendant of Maitreya, but one of the reasons why he's considered a yaoguai is because he rebelled against his master. He stole his treasures, ditched his post and tried to establish his own power. So he fits the definition of "bad" yaoguai who go against the established authority and use his powers for selfish gains.
Yellow wind demon is a rat?? I'm pretty positive that it was a Marten ( some sort of Wessel) , even if you look at it design it has the appearance of aMarten. Chapter 21 ''when only a few rounds had been fought, the monster turned to the southeast and was just going to open his mouth and blow out a wind when the Bodhisattva Lingji appeared in mid air and dropped the flying dragon staff on him. While the monster recited all sorts of spells, an eight clawed golden dragon grabbed him with two of its claws and smashed him several times against a rock face at this the monster reverted to his real form a brown Marten''
The original Chinese novel specifically has Lingji call him a “老鼠” which translates to rat / mouse. Wukong calls him a “黃毛貂鼠” which is yellow-furred mink. In China during ancient times, minks were considered part of the rat family. The English translation of the game uses rat / rodent as well, so I also used rat for continuity.
@@EmpressXV Oh interesting, I grew up reading and watching JTTW as well as Investiture Of The Gods, water margin, Chinese history Daoism Confuciusim and Chinese Buddhism etc... I've always found it very interesting, NeZha, Erlang Shen and Cú Chulainn are my fav Gods ( yes I know Cú is Celtic) Oh and I recall Yellow Wind appearing in true form as a brown Marten in the JTTW 1986 show as well ( been more than 20 years since I watched it ) Anyways I've always found Daoism to be my fav go to philosophy and pantheon it operate quite different from the rest of other world pantheons etc... What I do completely lack however is speaking or reading the Chinese language. My inability to read or understand Chinese as a language results in moment like this where I get confused as in why he is called a rat in the game ( I thought it was translation issue) or why you ref to him as a rat but this is very informative since I assume that you're a native speaker and prob grew up with the culture as a native opposite of me an outsider being interested in it, I get to acknowledge some of the trivia that went over my head because they would make more sense to a native Chinese, that's awesome. Thanks for this info can't wait to see other trivia's that went over my head in your future videos of CH 3-6 it be interesting to pin point the difference between their native Chinese references and their Eng translation.
@@IYukimuraSanadaI I think it's wonderful you have an eye for these details and are so interested in all these works! I completely agree the Yellow Wind Sage doesn't look like a rat and the difference can be visually confusing. I do think the game devs consciously went with "rat" since it's just easier to follow with all the plotlines around the Rodent Reverence Edict, the legend around the rat mural and the rat-ification of the Kingdom of Flowing Sands. Localizing such a complex language is really difficult -- plus minks, martens, sables, weasel, etc. all have the root "鼠" in Chinese too. I am a native speaker, but I try to balance things out in my videos by only noting translations I felt were most relevant to explaining the story. (Like in this video, there were a couple spots where I specifically mentioned what the Chinese dialogue states.) Otherwise I feel like the video would get far too long and it's already over an hour LOL 🙈
![Yao, Guai, Shen, Xian - The Cosmology Of Journey to the West - Black Myth Wukong Videos3 [CC]](/img/1.gif)
This video is so long, I was losing my voice. 😅 Thank you to everyone for watching. :3
USE THE TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Intro
0:56 - Journey to the West Context: The Fortune Teller & The Dragon King
10:05 - More Pre-Journey to the West Context
11:06 - Kingdom of Sahali Context
22:10 - The Headless Monk
23:30 - The Royal Family of Flowing Sands
25:24 - The Loong Scales & The Secret of the Dragon Sons
30:54 - Tiger Saga
38:55 - What’s the point of the Tigers?
40:19 - Stone Saga
48:49 - What’s the point of the Stones?
49:37 - Hidden Area
57:51 - The Yellow Wind Sage
1:01:29 - Putting it All Together
1:08:06 - Ending Animation & Final Thoughts
Thank you for the video
After watching a lot of Journey to the west and Black myth explanation videos, you're the only person who has masterfully explained the lore of this massive world. Thank you so much for your videos. Can't wait for the rest of the chapters.
More than an hour on Ch. 2! Exactly what we wanted. :)
Hopefully my chapter 3 video won't be longer than this, haha!😅
Chapter 3 bout to go crazy 🔥
I listen to alot of wukong lore but listening to your soft voice made me wanna listen again.
Oh wow, such a sweet compliment, thank you!
I feel privileged to listen to your in-depth explanation of the lore, it's so interesting!. It is like someone is letting me in on a big secret. Great work! Cant wait for the next parts!☺️
TYSM for watching! 🥹 I was worried the video was far too long again and thought people might not want all the detail. Appreciate you! ♥️
@@EmpressXV Thank you too for the great work you do! Most of us do not know as much as you do about the story and the cultural importance, please share as much as you can😊!
Wow, you summarised the lore well. Finally, someone really cares about why this game called "Black Myth". It is the tale that cannot be revealed to people, which are the karma caused by the cruelty and ruthlessness of Gods.
So glad you are okay, I was scared, it seemed u were gone for a long time 😊
I've found Taijiquan, the I Ching, & the Tao Te Ching to be of utmost use in my Life, but growing up in the MidWest I knew I never understood the various Cultural implications of things that someone more versed in Chinese Culture would notice. I'm absolutely loving your detailed Descriptions of all of these things for us Westerners!
I can't wait to see the rest of the Chapters!
Wow, even the I Ching?! That’s very impressive! What inspired you to even explore these things? 👀
@@EmpressXV Double Major in both Psychology & Philosophy/Comparative World Religions. I did an I Ching Reading for my Eastern Religions class (I've always used the Coin Method) & it was so specifically accurate I started to dive further.
I've also loved the 3 Soft Forms: having done a little bit of Baguaquan w/ mostly just holding San Ti for a year re: Xing Yi, & done Taijiquan since I took a Physical Education class on it whilst in my Freshmen year of College, decades ago LOL
Sadly, both my Sifu & I only know so much from Reading & Watching YT Videos - certainly more now than we did back in the 80's & 90's, being Westerners in the USA, but still not a lot. I've been excited for the upcoming EXPLOSION of Chinese Games that I correctly guessed would really kick off w/ Black Myth: Wukong, then Phantom Blade Zero, &c.
I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to know all the various Cultural Details from the "single user per artifact" rule, to why Yin Tiger & not Yang Tiger, &c. (I always thought that Dragon was Water/Yin & Tiger was Fire/Yang), &c.
Loving the analysis series so far. I admittedly didn't have many hopes for this story, but it's proving interestingly deep and rebellious in a suitably subtle way. Roll on Part 3!
Yay! I like how you describe it as subtle -- that's a great way to put it. :3 While I do wish certain things were more clear (I wanna know exactly what the devs intended LOL), it does let us discover more for ourselves.
Imma need the chapter 3 video soon. It feels nice finishing a chapter, then coming here for the explanation. Thank you so much
These are done so well! Please do other chapters too if you can. Thank you so much! May Harmony be with you sister!
Oh my gosh, thank you so much for the kind comment and generosity! I am definitely planning to cover all the other chapters. #3 is the longest one, so it's taking me a while >_
Yes! This is the best explanation! It must have taken so much work to research it all and edit the video. Much appreciated! Looking forward to more.
Also I watched this as soon as I finished Chapter2, just like I watched chapter 1 as soon as I finished playing chapter 1. I do feel like I got some spoilers for later chapters…
By far the best explanation series of the lore in BMW on RUclips (and probably outside of YT as well). Can't wait for part 3.
You are too sweet, thank you! 🥹There are so many amazing creators covering BMWK, so I’m very grateful for the compliment, especially as a small creator ♥️. Chapter 3 coming soon(tm)!
Thankyou for your work here. I appreciate that you put english syllables above the chinese characters, makes me that little bit more pulled towards learning the language someday.
Good vid.
Appreciate you watching! Chinese is a tough language, but definitely worth learning :3
They keep getting longer and longer and I’m here for it!
I appreciate you! ☺
YYYYYYEEEEESSSSS!!! Welcome back, my Empress. Best start to my day!
These videos are like a bedtime story, helping me fall asleep.
Maybe I should just make some ASMR sleep audios 😆
@@EmpressXV I would pay for some asmr journey to the west
Chapter 2 is definitely a complicated one to analyze. Probably the least straightforward one to figure out. The choice of ending is unique compared to the other chapters. You managed to still break it down that is easy to follow while offering your own insight. Appreciate the vid, and hope your voice is better.
Thanks Empress! ❤ Adding much more depth and understanding to the story.
Your videos are very relaxing and enjoyable.
Yay! Thanks so much for watching :3
Thank You, been waiting for more
“You know how looong I be waitin’ fuh’ dis???” 🔥🔥🔥 another banger for sure
Hahahaha, tysm for waiting and watching! 🤭♥️
I know how excited and anxious you were for this games release so I'm glad it wasnt a massive disappointment and that you're enjoying it so thoroughly
Thank you for being here from the start, Jonwar! ♥️
Great video! I loved video like this that delve into the lore and story so deeply. Cant wait for your analysis on chapter 4 because the story gets dark at that point but I am gonna have fun seeing you dissect chapter 3. It will be fun ride again after chapter 3 came along.
Yay, so glad you enjoyed! ☺️ And YES - I am super excited to cover chapter 4 because I LOVE love stories and as you said, it gets quite dark. 👀 Maybe I should attempt to dress up as Fourth Sister for that one 🕸️
@@EmpressXV Please dress up as the Fourth Sister as I loved her gothic widow design. She is my favorite.
That whole video made perfect sense. I also found really weird that a Boddhisatva, a being that is supposed to be enlightened, was so vindicative when he's supposed to be removed from such feelings.
In a way, it reminds me of the hypocrisy present inside the Christian religion, which preaches forgiveness and non-violence, only to end up having Saints and Angels do incredibly violent deeds against non-believers.
A boddhisattva is a Buddha to be and has yet to reach enlightenment, not yet free of all the fetters ie greed hatred and delusion.
I cannot wait till u cover chapter 4 probs my favourite one cause there's deffo a story with the 4th sister looking forward to your analysis of it 😎 and as always an amazing detailed video.
Wanted to say I love these videos. I bought Wukong because of the story. I'm not all that great at these types of games (just finished chapter 2!), but the lore keeps me going. Your videos enhance an already rich story for me. Thanks for doing these deep dives, and I look forward to the next chapter!
Ahh thank youuu!! So glad to hear. 🥹 I’m also not the best at these types of games, so we’re both keeping on cuz of the lore haha.🤭 What do you think about the story so far though??
Very in depth explanations. I love it.
Will you be doing all the chapters?
Yes! Working on chapter 3 next ☺️
There it is! Cant wait to watch 🙂
Small note for 6:20. Wejung didn't suddenly fell asleep during the chess game. The king was trying to stall for time, so things got slow and boring, leading him to fall asleep.
The passage in the original novel is: "此棋正下到午時三刻，一盤殘局未終，魏徵忽然俯伏在案邊，鼾 鼾盹睡." This translates to, "They played until 12:45, before the match was over, Weizheng /suddenly/ leaned forward and fell asleep snoring." It was a sudden nap at 12:45, which is when he was fated to execute the Dragon King.
Didn't realize how huge this game is like 130gb on Steam. I'll read Journey and play "vicariously" until I can up the storage😂 Ps your voice reminds memof the child-like Empress from Never Ending Story. Such nostalgia ❤
excellent video
For my sleeping therapist🤪 and her good job giving this detailed information🤓
Haha, thanks for the support, Bob! Maybe I should make some proper sleep audios LOL
@@EmpressXV Oh I forget to answer the question and my favourite line is "我来助你!“ XD
Omg that was my favorite too!!! I got SO hyped by that scene
Considering that a fortune teller could predict even the actions of the Jade Emperor and Buddha, you have to wonder whether the deities in this setting are really the highest powers that be who deserve all the blame for everything.
Great video, it's explain a lot of blurry areas for me.
But I have a question, what exactly define a yagoui ? Yellow Brow for exemple, he was a monk so I assune he was a man, how exactly he is (has become) a yagoui ?
Glad it was helpful! :3 "Yaoguai" is a very general blanket term that the game uses to encompass anything that's achieved some level of cultivation / powers that the celestial bureaucracy has deemed as "bad." In Chinese, this can be broken down to even more categories including: yao (usually animals or plants); guai (originally non-living things like rocks); yaojing (typically female, more beautiful and human in appearance); etc. Then there's also "shen xian" as the blanket term for immortals who are "good," but it can be broken down to "shen" (god) and "xian" (fairies and other lesser immortals). In actuality, being a yaoguai doesn't automatically mean they're bad and being a shenxian doesn't automatically mean they're good. You can also have yaoguai who become shenxian (like Sun Wukong in the original novel).
This is a big theme that Black Myth explores because heaven is calling the shots on these categories, and in chapter 2 we see Lingji spouting nonsense about how everything is born into their root station. Which again, is not actually true and not how buddhism is supposed to work. In the case of Yellowbrow, he was originally the attendant of Maitreya, but one of the reasons why he's considered a yaoguai is because he rebelled against his master. He stole his treasures, ditched his post and tried to establish his own power. So he fits the definition of "bad" yaoguai who go against the established authority and use his powers for selfish gains.
@@EmpressXV I see now, thank you 😊.
Dragon Goddess
Yellow wind demon is a rat?? I'm pretty positive that it was a Marten ( some sort of Wessel) , even if you look at it design it has the appearance of aMarten.
Chapter 21 ''when only a few rounds had been fought, the monster turned to the southeast and was just going to open his mouth and blow out a wind when the Bodhisattva Lingji appeared in mid air and dropped the flying dragon staff on him. While the monster recited all sorts of spells, an eight clawed golden dragon grabbed him with two of its claws and smashed him several times against a rock face at this the monster reverted to his real form a brown Marten''
The original Chinese novel specifically has Lingji call him a “老鼠” which translates to rat / mouse. Wukong calls him a “黃毛貂鼠” which is yellow-furred mink. In China during ancient times, minks were considered part of the rat family. The English translation of the game uses rat / rodent as well, so I also used rat for continuity.
@@EmpressXV Oh interesting, I grew up reading and watching JTTW as well as Investiture Of The Gods, water margin, Chinese history Daoism Confuciusim and Chinese Buddhism etc... I've always found it very interesting, NeZha, Erlang Shen and Cú Chulainn are my fav Gods ( yes I know Cú is Celtic) Oh and I recall Yellow Wind appearing in true form as a brown Marten in the JTTW 1986 show as well ( been more than 20 years since I watched it )
Anyways I've always found Daoism to be my fav go to philosophy and pantheon it operate quite different from the rest of other world pantheons etc...
What I do completely lack however is speaking or reading the Chinese language. My inability to read or understand Chinese as a language results in moment like this where I get confused as in why he is called a rat in the game ( I thought it was translation issue) or why you ref to him as a rat but this is very informative since I assume that you're a native speaker and prob grew up with the culture as a native opposite of me an outsider being interested in it, I get to acknowledge some of the trivia that went over my head because they would make more sense to a native Chinese, that's awesome.
Thanks for this info can't wait to see other trivia's that went over my head in your future videos of CH 3-6 it be interesting to pin point the difference between their native Chinese references and their Eng translation.
@@IYukimuraSanadaI I think it's wonderful you have an eye for these details and are so interested in all these works! I completely agree the Yellow Wind Sage doesn't look like a rat and the difference can be visually confusing. I do think the game devs consciously went with "rat" since it's just easier to follow with all the plotlines around the Rodent Reverence Edict, the legend around the rat mural and the rat-ification of the Kingdom of Flowing Sands. Localizing such a complex language is really difficult -- plus minks, martens, sables, weasel, etc. all have the root "鼠" in Chinese too. I am a native speaker, but I try to balance things out in my videos by only noting translations I felt were most relevant to explaining the story. (Like in this video, there were a couple spots where I specifically mentioned what the Chinese dialogue states.) Otherwise I feel like the video would get far too long and it's already over an hour LOL 🙈
After watching this I'll still play that game blind for uh, some reason
One question i have it's: who is the one screaming in chaoter 2?
Do you mean the kind of singsong scream in the background as you’re running around Yellow Wind Formation? That would be the Headless Monk
啊沙发没了